All Around the Town

 White Lion Meadow vole

Vole below Griffiths Tool Hire yard.

 Vole at Edward German Drive. This one had a horrific injury above its tail so

 I don't know what its chances are long-term.

 Grey wagtail at Wayland Road

 Wayland Road, and below, a water vole from that stretch.

Below, two water voles from White Lion Meadow. One is a vole with a spot on its head, which is a mark I've seen on several sites around Whitchurch over the 14 years I've been studying water voles.

White Lion Meadow and Upstream

 Edgeley Road vole

 I saw this feeding, then came across a very dead vole near some garages where the vegetation's too thick to get near the banks. So although it's sad for the vole, even a body is encouraging because it shows presence of a colony there.

Below, a feeding station and a baby vole that came out to feed at White Lion Meadow this evening.

Further Afield

Timber yard vole

Above: feeding at Railwayman's Cottage. Below: feeding at the back of Wayland's Road

White Lion Meadow vole that's blind in one eye.

What look like water vole burrows at the edge of Wem Moss.

You can follow the Staggsbrook along from the timber yard behind Tesco, through White Lion Meadow car park and down Edward German Drive, then into Wayland Road and to Railwayman's Cottage (the bridge by Homebase), and see water vole signs all the way along. Mostly it's feeding and burrows - I'm not seeing many latrines so far this year - but there is clear activity right through. 

Meanwhile the Whitchurch Water Vole Group has surveyed the stretch of brook as it comes out on the other side of town, along Greenfields and into the nature reserve. Again, there were plenty of signs and even a sighting. So it's looking like a decent start to the year.

The burrows at the edge of Wem Moss were a surprise, though. I know there are plenty of colonies around Whixall, but this stream's black, acid and peaty and just doesn't look very inviting. It goes to show, water voles keep you on your toes!

Boo to the Environment Agency

Depressingly, the damage to the banks by over-zealous strimming turns out to have gone right through the town, so that's all along Waylands Road, along Edward German Drive, out on the other side through Greenfields Rise and only stopping when they reached the nature reserve. And the work's been carried out by the Environment Agency! An organisation I've spoken to countless times about water vole presence in the town, and who should have it flagged up in their systems that this stream needs especially sensitive management. They must have remembered something about the voles because of the way that one short stretch by White Lion Meadow has been managed. 

I appreciate they've stuck to the rule about only removing cover from one bank at a time, but for most of the brook between the railway bridge and White Lion Meadow there is only one bank that's vole-friendly. The rest is either flanked by a brick wall or wooden revetment, or the bank is too shaded by overhanging trees for anything to grow there. The result is no cover at all for the water voles who live along this stretch.

And this in a week when we're told that water vole numbers nationally are down by a fifth. Honestly, I could weep.

Good Practice, Bad Practice

 White Lion Meadow strimming - good practice as only alternative banks have been cut and only in short stretches

 White Lion Meadow vole presence

 Waylands Road strimming - very poor practice as the entire stretch has been done from the railway bridge down to Waylands Close, leaving the water voles there with no food or cover.

 Black Park Road - nothing touched, water vole bliss.

 Water vole feeding at Black Park Road.

 Otter spraint at Black Park Road.

Two juvenile Edgeley Road water voles

To our dismay, the banks along the Staggsbrook by Waylands Road have been stripped of cover and we're trying to find out who's done it so it won't happen again. In the same week, the banks at White Lion Meadow have been tidied in an exemplary fashion, so whoever's responsible for this deserves a pat on the back. Here are some ideas for landowners and councils on the right way to strim vegetation back in areas where water voles are present: http://www.durhamwt.co.uk/what-we-do/current-projects/water-vole/habitat-management-for-water-voles/

Update - see above. It's the Environment Agency who are responsible, and there turns out to be a lot more of it! Many thanks to Shropshire Council for helping me track down who did it.

Meanwhile I'm happy to report that the Black Park voles and the ones by the railway bridge at Homebase - on the Railway Cottage side of the road - are doing well, going by the number of feeding signs and latrines.

Pollution

Debbie's voles, from the Staggs Brook as it goes under the railway bridge near Homebase. This sighting is especially heartening as two years ago, after a good start to the year, this colony had mysteriously disappeared by late summer.

Vole-feeding at the back of Wayland Road.

Water vole latrine at the back of Wayland Road.

A less happy sight.

Discovered diesel coming into the ditch by Grocontinental, from out of a pipe under the lorry park. I've asked the Environment Agency to have a look as it's pooling round near a lot of water vole burrows/feeding/latrines. I imagine the voles will have to vacate the area till the oil disperses - hope they haven't got young in the burrows already. It may even mean voles are poisoned, I'm not sure. Any water contamination you spot should be reported immediately via the EA's 24 hour incident helpline (see link on right).

Nicky and her Enormous Vole

A massive vole Nicky once rescued from a cat.

A female great crested newt that lives in the cellar. Nicky has a licence to handle them.

A toad, also from the cellar.

Mating toads, and spawn in the pond.

Toad spawn.

Prints along the banks at Waylands Road, where a council workman told me he'd seen a water vole this morning.
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I was lucky enough to get a look round Nicky Hunter's lovely wildlife garden at Whixall. Really I was looking for water vole signs and we did find some likely burrows, though the search was pretty much academic since Nicky sees them regularly swimming across her pond. There's a good population of field voles, and also various amphibians - see above. A nature-lover's paradise, basically!